Thou Shalt Not Kill- A different perspective

"Thou shalt not kill."       (Ex 20:13)

I want to address this passage this week. Many of us are pretty proud of ourselves when we read this verse, no need for CSI to come by our house for a visit. We look at people on the TV news  or the ones  in history who have taken lives and we can safely say they we have not done such a horrible thing to anyone, not even an unborn child. However, before we scratch that  sin off our list as one we have never committed, I want to share with you what I found when I decided to investigate the definition of the word kill. I found some meanings of the word that have brought me to the conclusion that we might want to re-think what it means to kill before we decide it is only connected to a dead body with a gun, knife, or some other weapon of choice involved.

First I want to address a couple of things about the word kill in the traditional sense as we understand what the word implies.  According to the websters dictionary, it means: "to cause the death of, to make die." First of all in connection with this verse it gives the command not to murder with hateful intent (Deut 19:11-13). There are allowances in scripture for self defense (Deut 22:2). Second of all  there is a thing called a "righteous" kill and by that I do not mean men who kill their wives, daughters, or any other female relative for some accusation they deem worthy of death, I speak of in the bible where  the children of Israel were commanded by Yah (God) in ancient  times to  take the promised land which involved killing the inhabitants so they could inhabit it. King David killed thousands of  men who were the enemies of Israel including Goliath the most famous of his casualties, but it was for the death of Uriah that Yah (God) held him responsible because he was an innocent man.

Now with that out of the way I want to  address I want to address the other definitions of the word kill. The other meanings read:

1.To destroy the virtual or active qualities of

2. To prevent the passage of (legislation) To defeat, veto

             3. To Spend time on matters of little or no importance (kill time)

4. To cause to Stop

5. To prevent to publication of

6. To spoil the effect of, to destroy by contrast

7. To destroy life

 I am going to spotlight some of the definitions  to drive home the point with accompanying stories. All the stories are true situations.

Yah created us to be living vibrant beings, full of  his life, full of his potential  with endless possibilities to bring his kingdom to earth.  but what happens when someone's actions  kill what Yah put inside of us? Consider the following stories :

Story #1 (To spoil the effect of):

A young girl loves gymnastics, her passion for the sport coupled with her natural skill causes her coach to compliment her often. The other girls on the team resent her and accuse her of showing off. She begins to second guess herself, loses her confidence and eventually stops participating. Her love for gymnastics was spoiled, she never did gymnastics again.

What Was killed?: Her confidence and her gift went dormant. 

Weapon: Jealous words 

Story #2 (To destroy the virtual or active qualities of)

Another young girl was molested by a family member, years later when she gets married, she struggles to give herself completely to her husband intimately and could bring herself to fully trust him for many years.

What was killed?: Her innocence (That belonged to her husband)  and her trust in men severely injured  

Weapon: The assailant's hands and threats

 Stories 3-6 (To prevent the passage of (legislation) To defeat, veto 

These are especially dangerous because these interfere with Yah's  laws (legislation), plans and purposes from going forth. To go  against the laws of a King is TREASON!

#3

Mahatma Gandhi, the guiding force that helped lead the Indian people to independence from Britain by preaching the gospel of non-violent resistance. Early in his life Gandhi, who like many Indians was a Hindu, read the Bible and decided that he was attracted to the message of Jesus Christ, especially the part about returning good for evil, about turning the other cheek and blessing those who curse you. So he set out to attend a worship service at the local Christian church.

When he reached the door of the church he was turned away by an usher, a British man, who told Gandhi, “Why don’t you go worship with your own kind?” Gandhi concluded that while the message of Christ was worthy, the people who labeled themselves with his name were not, and he decided to remain a Hindu. 

What was killed?: Gandhi's faith in trusting  Y'shua (Jesus) and possibly millions of souls that he influenced

Weapon: The Racism of the Usher VETOED Yah's  plan to use Gandhi as a vessel.

#4

Three women C, D, & S had an important assignment from Yah that would have affected many lives in a wonderful way. C & D have a misunderstanding. D tries to reconcile the misunderstanding  with C but she refuses and severs the relationship and rallies S to her side against D. The opportunity passes and given to another to complete. The unity between the 3 is never restored.

What was killed?: The Yah ordained Assignment and the unity of three powerful women (and C continued to speak against D to other people they mutually knew  destroying her relationships with those people as well)

Weapon: The Pride and Unforgiveness of C  VETOED Yah's glorious plan for the three in  the assignment he had given.

#5 

 A young girl has a childhood friend with a terminal illness. The presence of Yah (God) is present to heal the little boy, the little girl strong in faith and sensing Yah's (God) tells her friend that Yah (God) wants to heal him.  he is excited, but his mother later discourages his hope believing the doctors report that he is going to die. The boy dies shortly thereafter.

 What was killed?: The little boy literally

Weapon: His mothers unbelief. 

#6

This happens in churches  and fellowships everywhere. The spirit of Yah wants to move among the people to strengthen and heal but the powers that be (leadership)  grieve his spirit because they want to be in control and forge ahead with their service and refuse to be interrupted. Or There are people among them with gifts Yah (God) wants to use to bless and minister to his people, but the powers that be  once again be it fear , jealousy or a controlling spirit do not want to yield the floor to Yah's Spirit and they grieve  him and people do not receive what they need.

 What was killed?: The move of Yah's (God) Spirit in that situation

Weapons: Unbelief, rebellion, stubbornness, fear, control, hatred of Yah (God) 

I know there are some who will argue and say that Yah (God) is ultimately in control and in certain situations (like the gymnast) those people could have chosen not to listen to peoples words or how  can you blame that mom for her son's death? You have a right to your opinion but I ask you to remember that Yah (God) does provide us with a certain amount of freedom and that freedom unfortunately many times DOES affect peoples lives. We don't like to think that our actions towards another could have eternal ramifications because we don't want the responsibility but like it or not we will be held responsible. Beloved, we will be held responsible, so I implore you who read this (as I also remind myself) to remember just because we have not shot someone in the head does not mean we have not stabbed any in the back or the heart with our words and deeds.  Even if the blood is invisible it is still real in the eyes Yah.

 So you see there is alot more to work with here than just avoiding CSI paying you a visit. I bring this up because I want us to rethink what it means to kill to ask ourselves a question, have I killed someone in some way through my action or deeds? Have I killed an opportunity for myself or other people? How many times have we killed the purposes of Yah (God) with our mouth or our own two hands?  if we were to add up the number of killings based on word or deed, we probably would make the worst serial killer on death row look like an altar boy. If we were to look at someone from the inside we would be surprised at how many walking dead live among us; their lives, hopes, dreams  have been killed and while many times it is self inflicted, more times than not, it is by the words and/or actions of others that many are perishing. 

In the midst of this I remember that Y'shua is the resurrection and the life and he can redeem ANY situation. No situation is beyond his reach, but we must be responsible for the things we say and because we will be held responsible and if we are going to be responsible, let it be for bringing life not death. The only thing we should be killing is satan's plans and purposes in our lives and those we pray for and in that case, let the body count begin!